illOgic
07-04-2003, 02:33 AM
This is a info post for you XSI users, and a recruitment for G.H.O.S.T. Ops: The Avalon Project, a hl mod that has been in production for about two years. We have completed the weapons list and coding, and lucked out, our weapons are 2000 to 2500 polys exactly what the hl2 engine wants. we are looking for a talented modeler(s) to help us model all 8 of our player models. If anyones interested, please hit me up at illogic@bastid.net or www.ghostopsmod.com
Our weapons preview are available at the bottom of this post, and omg please forgive me for this shameless recruit, i didnt know when the opportunity will arise again.
What program is being used for Half-Life 2 modeling?
We use XSI. We're working with Softimage to release a free version of XSI over Steam*. We will provide exporters for XSI, 3DS Max, and Maya.
Well also package up all of the custom Half-Life 2 XSI add-ons and make them freely available to people who are already using XSI.
* It will probably be available through some non-Steam delivery method as well.
Can I use XSI to create everything from maps, objects and characters, and then take them into Hammer?
You'll want to create your core map (brush) geometry in Hammer, though you can create significant amounts of geometry in XSI and import them into your maps as static or dynamic props.
We're using XSI primarily for model creation, texturing, animation, and creating normal maps and other textures. Hammer is the tool where the map architecture, props, characters, lighting and gameplay all come together.
How are the proper mouth movements accomplished when a model speaks?
To start with, you'll need to author keyshapes, or morph targets for each of your characters. Our facial animation system uses 34 keyshapes, 14 of which are required for proper lip-sync animation.
To create the lip-sync animation, you'll use our new character-acting tool, FacePoser. Load your character model into FacePoser, load the audio file into the phoneme editor window, type or paste the dialog from the audio file into the text entry window and the phoneme data will be extracted. The automatic extraction does a good job on clearly enunciated dialog of up to around 5 seconds in duration, though our animators often like to fine-tune the performances by hand afterward. More manual work may be necessary on audio files of longer duration, with poor fidelity, less clear performances or long gaps between dialog.
The lip-sync data is saved into the header of the audio file so that when a character is told to "play" a sound in the engine, they'll move their lips based on the phoneme data encoded in the .WAV file. Additional FacePoser data, such as character acting or direction (look at this character, walk to this target, etc.) is saved in a separate scene file (.vcd).
What is the polygon budget for models?
We target between 3000 polygons (i.e.: headcrabs) and 7500 polygons (i.e. Alyx, the Gman) for characters and monsters, depending on function and how many we hope to have on-screen simultaneously, and we have several stages of LOD (level of detail) models with drastically reduced polygon counts for when things get smaller in screen space (further away). We're targeting around 2000 polygons for our viewmodels, which of course do not LOD.
How many vertices can I have per polygon, on a model?
The engine deals with triangles (which means 3 vertices per polygon) but our exporters from XSI divide all polygons with greater than 3 vertices into triangles.
and now, G.H.O.S.T. Ops: The Avalon Project Weapons previews. for more info please visit www.ghostopsmod.com
http://www.ghostopsmod.com/images/phlandmoddb/allweapons.jpg
Our weapons preview are available at the bottom of this post, and omg please forgive me for this shameless recruit, i didnt know when the opportunity will arise again.
What program is being used for Half-Life 2 modeling?
We use XSI. We're working with Softimage to release a free version of XSI over Steam*. We will provide exporters for XSI, 3DS Max, and Maya.
Well also package up all of the custom Half-Life 2 XSI add-ons and make them freely available to people who are already using XSI.
* It will probably be available through some non-Steam delivery method as well.
Can I use XSI to create everything from maps, objects and characters, and then take them into Hammer?
You'll want to create your core map (brush) geometry in Hammer, though you can create significant amounts of geometry in XSI and import them into your maps as static or dynamic props.
We're using XSI primarily for model creation, texturing, animation, and creating normal maps and other textures. Hammer is the tool where the map architecture, props, characters, lighting and gameplay all come together.
How are the proper mouth movements accomplished when a model speaks?
To start with, you'll need to author keyshapes, or morph targets for each of your characters. Our facial animation system uses 34 keyshapes, 14 of which are required for proper lip-sync animation.
To create the lip-sync animation, you'll use our new character-acting tool, FacePoser. Load your character model into FacePoser, load the audio file into the phoneme editor window, type or paste the dialog from the audio file into the text entry window and the phoneme data will be extracted. The automatic extraction does a good job on clearly enunciated dialog of up to around 5 seconds in duration, though our animators often like to fine-tune the performances by hand afterward. More manual work may be necessary on audio files of longer duration, with poor fidelity, less clear performances or long gaps between dialog.
The lip-sync data is saved into the header of the audio file so that when a character is told to "play" a sound in the engine, they'll move their lips based on the phoneme data encoded in the .WAV file. Additional FacePoser data, such as character acting or direction (look at this character, walk to this target, etc.) is saved in a separate scene file (.vcd).
What is the polygon budget for models?
We target between 3000 polygons (i.e.: headcrabs) and 7500 polygons (i.e. Alyx, the Gman) for characters and monsters, depending on function and how many we hope to have on-screen simultaneously, and we have several stages of LOD (level of detail) models with drastically reduced polygon counts for when things get smaller in screen space (further away). We're targeting around 2000 polygons for our viewmodels, which of course do not LOD.
How many vertices can I have per polygon, on a model?
The engine deals with triangles (which means 3 vertices per polygon) but our exporters from XSI divide all polygons with greater than 3 vertices into triangles.
and now, G.H.O.S.T. Ops: The Avalon Project Weapons previews. for more info please visit www.ghostopsmod.com
http://www.ghostopsmod.com/images/phlandmoddb/allweapons.jpg